Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas met in Jerusalem Sunday afternoon as Israelis watched closely to see if the two would try to negotiate the division of the capital.
Olmert’s Kadima party will elect his replacement on September 17, leaving little more than two more weeks for the PA to decide whether it will accept his proposal for a final status deal based on his proposal for a “shelf agreement” that would leave the issue of Jerusalem on the back burner for the time being but would at least give the PA the borders for a permanent state of its own.
The prime minister is expected to try and convince Abbas to accept the deal, despite the PA leader’s insistence that he will agree to nothing less than a PA state with Israel pulled back to its pre-1967 borders, contiguous land running between Gaza, Judea and Samaria, and with Jerusalem as its capital -- which Israel has already said it will never agree to.
--Hamas has begun to build an oil pipeline from Egypt to Rafiah inside one of the tunnels designed to smuggle fuel, as well as weapons, according to Arabs sources. The move represents an attempt by Hamas to bring fuel to Gaza on a regular basis and to control smuggling.
Smuggling tunnels also are used for smuggling drugs, a practice Hamas wants to stop. Several Arab leaders favor the tunnel system, especially for smuggling weapons, but have noted the numerous deaths as a result of work accidents. The tunnel system has become a booming local industry, employing approximately 5,000 people and netting tunnel operators millions of dollar a month.
--“No one in Syria knows where Eli Cohen is buried, and so Israel will have a difficult time receiving his remains,” a man who served as Bureau Chief to former Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad claims.
The former official, Munzar Al-Musli, told Arabic TV network Al Arabiya in an interview: “We buried Cohen three times, in three different places. The grave was relocated after a day or two. We were afraid that Israel would secretly land forces and snatch the remains. It is difficult to locate Cohen’s remains.”
Three Years Ago Today in IsraelNN
Israel Police’s Yomam commando unit targeted and killed two Hizbullah agents operating in the Balata area of the Shechem district in Samaria. The two were directly responsible for the March 30, 2006 attack near Kedumim that claimed the lives of Rafi HaLevy, 60, his wife Helena, 59, Re’ut Feldman, 20, and Shaked Lasker, 16.
--Prime Minister of Lebanon, Fouad Siniora, declared that his country would be the last to sign a peace treaty with Israel. Siniora rejected any direct contacts with Israel whatsoever.